The problem I have encountered with what you are explaining deals with pick slanting. Hopefully you are familiar with Troy Grady. For many years I struggled with the ascending runs using economy picking. I cld blaze doing the descending scales. After discovering what pick slanting is it all began to make sense. Teachers who are really good and slanting in either direction don't seem to understand the problem as it feels natural to them. Pick slanting is a natural development of a dominant angle. This is very much like how someone is right handed or left handed. A person who is equally good at using both slants is the equivalent to someone who is ambidextrous. Yngwie is a downward pick slanter. This is why he will use economy picking on an ascending run but use strategically placed pull offs or slides on a descending run. Now I have practiced both slants but after years of practice my downward slant is much weaker then my upward. My style is the exact opposite of Yngwie's. I work diligently to improve my weaknesses. However, I recently started arranging some of my solos to accommodate upward pick slanting. My solution was a deal with the devil. On descending runs I use economy picking, just as you have explained. On ascending runs I will use a combination of 4 notes on one string and 2 on the next. These patterns will feel very awkward at first. I continue to alternate. Until I am done ascending. The one important thing to understand is that an upward slant is a completely backwards universe. Instead of starting with a down stroke you must start with an up. This method makes for some very awkward fingerings, but once you get used to it the result is the same as economy picking. The string crossing motions are effortless. There is an added benefit I found to this. Because my upward slant is so dominant the rhythmic flow is much stronger doing this then trying to force economy picking with a downward slant. I have adapted this to 3 of my solos and the results are stunning. I continue to work on making my downward slant and double escape motions stronger, but this trick opened up a whole new universe for me. If you struggle in one direction but find it easy in another the this is most likely a dominant pick slant. The solution is to engineer the problem direction to maintain the dominant slant. This is how Yngwie does it. It is how Eric Johnson does it. These guys are great players. Nothing wrong with playing to your strengths. ;)
I appreciate how concise this response is! Yes the slant is everything. I actually find it easier to do ascending runs with either slant depending on what I’m doing. Sometimes with I’ll use the upward slant if it’s uneven notes consistently and I need to accent the notes in the beginning of each phrase. But other times I’ll stick the the downward slant and usually change my pick angle on descending patterns, or something I’ll just alternate pick and flip the pick slant every string change, all though this can tire me out quicker depending on what I’m playing. But I agree that there’s nothing wrong with playing to your strengths. I’m very familiar with Troy Grady’s work for sure, he’s helped so many of us with the pick slant stuff. I’m a big fan of his work for sure. Maybe I will do a follow up vid going more in depth on the pick slant stuff. Thanks for your sharing!
The problem I have encountered with what you are explaining deals with pick slanting. Hopefully you are familiar with Troy Grady. For many years I struggled with the ascending runs using economy picking. I cld blaze doing the descending scales.
After discovering what pick slanting is it all began to make sense. Teachers who are really good and slanting in either direction don't seem to understand the problem as it feels natural to them. Pick slanting is a natural development of a dominant angle. This is very much like how someone is right handed or left handed. A person who is equally good at using both slants is the equivalent to someone who is ambidextrous. Yngwie is a downward pick slanter. This is why he will use economy picking on an ascending run but use strategically placed pull offs or slides on a descending run.
Now I have practiced both slants but after years of practice my downward slant is much weaker then my upward. My style is the exact opposite of Yngwie's. I work diligently to improve my weaknesses. However, I recently started arranging some of my solos to accommodate upward pick slanting. My solution was a deal with the devil. On descending runs I use economy picking, just as you have explained. On ascending runs I will use a combination of 4 notes on one string and 2 on the next. These patterns will feel very awkward at first. I continue to alternate. Until I am done ascending.
The one important thing to understand is that an upward slant is a completely backwards universe. Instead of starting with a down stroke you must start with an up. This method makes for some very awkward fingerings, but once you get used to it the result is the same as economy picking. The string crossing motions are effortless. There is an added benefit I found to this. Because my upward slant is so dominant the rhythmic flow is much stronger doing this then trying to force economy picking with a downward slant. I have adapted this to 3 of my solos and the results are stunning.
I continue to work on making my downward slant and double escape motions stronger, but this trick opened up a whole new universe for me. If you struggle in one direction but find it easy in another the this is most likely a dominant pick slant. The solution is to engineer the problem direction to maintain the dominant slant. This is how Yngwie does it. It is how Eric Johnson does it. These guys are great players. Nothing wrong with playing to your strengths. ;)
I appreciate how concise this response is! Yes the slant is everything. I actually find it easier to do ascending runs with either slant depending on what I’m doing. Sometimes with I’ll use the upward slant if it’s uneven notes consistently and I need to accent the notes in the beginning of each phrase. But other times I’ll stick the the downward slant and usually change my pick angle on descending patterns, or something I’ll just alternate pick and flip the pick slant every string change, all though this can tire me out quicker depending on what I’m playing. But I agree that there’s nothing wrong with playing to your strengths.
I’m very familiar with Troy Grady’s work for sure, he’s helped so many of us with the pick slant stuff. I’m a big fan of his work for sure. Maybe I will do a follow up vid going more in depth on the pick slant stuff. Thanks for your sharing!